The idiot behind the camera...

[calr]

I see frequent questions here in the form of "Which camera is best?" or "Which camera should I buy?" These kind of questions bring to mind a couple of maxims I learned a long time ago. These are:

"Cameras take pictures. Photographers take photographs"
"It's not the camera that takes the picture. It's the idiot behind the camera!"

The point here is that you can take very bad pictures with the latest and greatest gigapixel megagizmo and you can take excellent pictures with the cheapest of cameras. I have taken some great shots with a one-time use camera purchased at the supermarket. I have taken some extremely bad pictures with my Nikon F100 and D100.

My point here is this. You are the person taking the photograph. Take the time to get the composition correct. Look at EVERYTHING in the viewfinder to be sure there is nothing sneeking into your picture that you don't want. Look at the lighting. Is your subject properly lit. There are dozens of factors involved in taking a good photograph, most of which YOU have control of..

If you are taking a picture of your dog, you might want to remove that sock that is laying on the floor behind the dog. If there is bright light coming in through the window, you may want to either close the drapes or change your shooting position so that you are not facing the bright window..

There are some excellent books out there on basic photography. One that comes to mind has a title something like "How to build a photograph" or something like that. I have the book at home. You don't need a book specifically for digital photography. Any good photograpy book covers these basic principles which are common to all camera.

"That's all I have to say about that!" "Run, Forest, run!"

[JimC]

Writer To Photographer:
Your photos are great! You must use a very good Camera!

Photographer to Writer:
Your books are great, too! You must use a very good Typewriter!

[chiks]

to make the process of capturing the best photgraph, equipment does make a difference.

just as having a bad "jamming" typewriter can cause frustrations to the writer( or should I say typist), often enough to forget his flow of thoughts.

Yes. Good equipment will help you, guide you in getting the best of your hidden talents, ones that would have remained hidden if no one had explored you to get to it. The equipment helps you get there.

In essence, if you give a Yugo to Schumacher, you cannot expect him to win the Formula 1.

[PeterP]

And if you give a formula-1 car to Clem Caddlehopper you can't expect him to get through an intersection without crashing.

Working equipment helps a lot , equipment with full-auto everything and all the bells and whistles hinders learning.
Probably why the pentax K-1000 is still sought after by students wanting to really learn photography. Also probably why photo courses specify a camera with full manual capability in their class requirements.

Equipment cannot guide you. It can take over and make the picture a brainless taking process, instead of a creative making process.

Big difference between taking a pciture and making an image.

[chiks]

in other words, it works both ways.

[Lin Evans]

Lin

[PeterP]

:lol: ROTFL :lol:

[ohenry]

Lin, I don't recall signing a model release for that photo! :lol: